Truly good kindergarten/elementary school in GVA?

[godwin]

Well it is left ear that is of concern. It also depends on how often the kid plays too.

Originally Posted by twitchyzero

for reals?

I grew up as a percussionist and my eardrums are probably slightly messed up from it. No scientific facts to back this up, just my own observation that could just be a coincidence.

If anything, prolonged earphone use is probably worse than any music instrument.

I didn't like piano when I was younger; but I think if I have too much free-time later down the road I'd like to pick it up again.

[godwin]

Well private schools have a better chance to do better, but shop around.. BC private schools quantity is really limited, there are a lot of subpar ones and there are way better value for the money elsewhere. I would say in comparison schools like St Georges / Little Flower etc are not that expensive, there are a few schools that are 70k+. Remember we are extrapolating statistics to 1 outcome. If the student doesn't fit the school, it still won't work.

Again, it is the spectrum of schools and how you judge the schools. I think in the past FI selected some really small public school out in the interior pretty much middle of no where.. why? better student to teacher ratio, the school administration that cares.. Again those things have to be sussed out by the parents. Improvements and degradation happens gradually in organizations. I would avoid brand new schools to be honest, focus on the teachers' reputation, volunteer and visit the school to be get a feel or things.

I would say if you are really concerned getting the best probability for the best education for your offsprings.. look outside GVA.

Originally Posted by MG1

The Fraser Institute Report on schools. Damn right private schools do well. They better. Parents dish out a lot of money and expect results. Public schools take on everything, from children of losers, FAS, behavioural, ADD/ADHD, learning disabled, you name it. Considering what public schools have to deal with, it's pretty amazing how they can even survive.

[snowball]

Originally Posted by SolidPenguin

There are Tank factories in Ontario?!

Yeah, it's called Air Canada Centre

then they moved it to Rogers Arena.

[m4k4v4li]

.

[Timpo]

What the hell do you want your kid to be???

World class multi-billion $ CEO like Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs?
World class singer like Janet Jackson, Shakira and Justin Timberlake?
World class politician like Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Justin Trudeau?
Nobel Award winner or national hero like Mother Teresa and Terry Fox?
Top athlete like Sidney Crosby or Michael Jordan?

or just generally accepted "high class" people like lawyer and doctor?
or maybe those very smart straight A Chinese students from Richmond driving Ferrari?

Did all those "successful people" went to expensive private kindergarten/school?

What I found is though, most of the time, kids find what they want to do and strive for it. Any top people in the industry would have passion for something, not because "oh my mom and dad pushed me for it"

Not saying you're bad parent for trying to give your kid the best education, but hey, your kid is still in kindergarten..

[Hehe]

I don't expect my kid to be anything, I'm more or less following my parents' principle: educational inheritance. They provided us the best education and environment possible, then we are off on our own to explore and make our own fortune (or not) so we don't wish or rely or any of the money they made.

I'm just going to repeat the same. My kids are going to receive the best education they want, whether it's a school, academy, or a person (in some form of craft, say music lessons, computer... etc) and I will be as involved as I can.

I just want to provide him the best environment for him to grow healthy, explore and discover his passions and area of interest. And if they happen to be able to link to some career choices, great! If not, it's not the end of the world either. He has both legs and arms, so as long as he isn't lazy and get a job, he should at least be able to buy cloth, food and have shelter. They have absolute freedom in career choices. I just want to fulfill my parental responsibility as much as I can.

And since it's just kindergarten, I have to choose it for them. So I just want to make sure I'm not making bad decisions. I talked to a few F&F, but many of them either don't care (just put whatever school their catchment is) or have that "elite" philosophy that I personally despise. They aren't thinking for their kids, their choices are simply based on social consideration (showoff, connection... etc).

[godwin]

At this stage it is all about possibilities and inspire the kids to work hard and know what possibilities are out there.

One advantage of private schools is the parent network often pitch in and help especially mentoring kids base on their expertise. Decades ago, I was helping at a school, basically we do a high school version of business plan, execution in the small business.. But instead of pie in the sky way of doing things, we actually had parents who were accountants and bankers that believed and funded the companies. In the end of the decade, we managed to get 3 companies eventually listed on the TSX, a few of the kids end up as executives at Google from their experiences.

Students like those are exceptions but if you don't have the network to back them, they might not be able to reach their full potential.

Originally Posted by Timpo

What the hell do you want your kid to be???

World class multi-billion $ CEO like Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs?
World class singer like Janet Jackson, Shakira and Justin Timberlake?
World class politician like Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Justin Trudeau?
Nobel Award winner or national hero like Mother Teresa and Terry Fox?
Top athlete like Sidney Crosby or Michael Jordan?

or just generally accepted "high class" people like lawyer and doctor?
or maybe those very smart straight A Chinese students from Richmond driving Ferrari?

Did all those "successful people" went to expensive private kindergarten/school?

What I found is though, most of the time, kids find what they want to do and strive for it. Any top people in the industry would have passion for something, not because "oh my mom and dad pushed me for it"

Not saying you're bad parent for trying to give your kid the best education, but hey, your kid is still in kindergarten..

[twitchyzero]

as long as they grow up to be humble and not believing they were self-made

Spoiler!

[Hehe]

Originally Posted by twitchyzero

as long as they grow up to be humble and not believing they were self-made

Spoiler!

Very sad and yet true. Many today don't grasp this concept.

I think it has to do with discipline. Coming from an Asian family, being humble and low profile are among the basic values in the philosophy of properness in Confucianism. This is also what I think I meant by family guidance. They have always taught me to be kind to those around and give the respect they deserve... among other things.

However, I don't think it merges well with some of the western philosophies. I experienced that while growing up in a western environment since I left Asia. My kids are going to be even more immersed in it. If any member here with Chinese ancestry who were born and bred in Van can share a few thing, that'd be great!

[Gumby]

My son goes to French immersion at Quilchena Elementary (in Kerrisdale). No major complaints from me. I felt that since parents make an active decision to send their kid to immersion, it shows that they care about their child's education.

I think for our generation (those of us whose parents immigrated to Canada, and then we were born here), we were expected to go to university after graduating high school. Anything else was frowned upon. One thing's for sure - once my kids graduate from high school, I will not push them to attend university. They are free to get a job (that's important!) and explore their options. University is not for everyone.

[godwin]

That's a good sentiment but in your comic panel.. how big is the role of selection of school plays in equation?

In all honesty, parents themselves have to act accordingly and believe in the values they want to pass on to their kids, rather than just dictating the values they think their kids should have. You want your kids to be humble? Maybe one should be understated to start off with. Mimicry starts early, if kids sees you are not serious and have public and private sets of values.. they catch up quick, discipline will only make things worse. That's where the shortcomings of Asian value of "face" lies.

Originally Posted by twitchyzero

as long as they grow up to be humble and not believing they were self-made

Spoiler!

[quasi]

Originally Posted by Gumby

I think for our generation (those of us whose parents immigrated to Canada, and then we were born here), we were expected to go to university after graduating high school. Anything else was frowned upon. One thing's for sure - once my kids graduate from high school, I will not push them to attend university. They are free to get a job (that's important!) and explore their options. University is not for everyone.

My parents were the opposite they didn't prepare me at all for post secondary, they didn't push me at all in high school I'm pretty sure they didn't know if I even went. I took the maximum number of spares and shop classes I could. Half of my grade 12 year I had 2 spares and 2 wood work classes, talk about taking advantage of it because I could. I did end up going to post secondary but I sure didn't make it easy on myself.

I'm a Canadian born white guy have a son who's turning 11 in May. Whenever I get the chance I express to him how important it is for him to go to University and how hard he needs to work to achieve that goal. I don't want him to have any surprises and if he wants to reach his goals (He loves to debate and argue and tells me he wants to be a lawyer) he's going to have to bust his ass. I also tell him that I'm going to be here to support him and help him make sure he gets there. He's still young his ambitions will probably change a few times between now and graduation but whatever he chooses I'm going to make sure he's ready to go.

Don't get me wrong I'm sure you tell your kids how important it is and let them make there own choice which I get. I guess for me it comes down to that age old feeling of wanting our kids to do better then we did. I'm going to be super disappointed if my kid doesn't go to University.

[Traum]

Having wasted too much time in university, I'd definitely agree with the sentiment that university is not for everyone. Ideally, it is meant to be a place to develop intellectuals, but far too many people think of it as some sort of mandatory requirement or job training type of thing.

Having said that, I am a big proponent of post secondary education, whether it is university, college, vocational training, etc. Highschool really doesn't teach you shxt, and the stupid ministry is constantly dumbing the curriculum down to chase after the lowest common denominator.

[Timpo]

Originally Posted by Hehe

I don't expect my kid to be anything, I'm more or less following my parents' principle: educational inheritance. They provided us the best education and environment possible, then we are off on our own to explore and make our own fortune (or not) so we don't wish or rely or any of the money they made.

I'm just going to repeat the same. My kids are going to receive the best education they want, whether it's a school, academy, or a person (in some form of craft, say music lessons, computer... etc) and I will be as involved as I can.

I just want to provide him the best environment for him to grow healthy, explore and discover his passions and area of interest. And if they happen to be able to link to some career choices, great! If not, it's not the end of the world either. He has both legs and arms, so as long as he isn't lazy and get a job, he should at least be able to buy cloth, food and have shelter. They have absolute freedom in career choices. I just want to fulfill my parental responsibility as much as I can.

And since it's just kindergarten, I have to choose it for them. So I just want to make sure I'm not making bad decisions. I talked to a few F&F, but many of them either don't care (just put whatever school their catchment is) or have that "elite" philosophy that I personally despise. They aren't thinking for their kids, their choices are simply based on social consideration (showoff, connection... etc).

Since you said money isn't a concern, have you ever thought about St.Michael's University School in Victoria?

They're always ranked in one of the top K-G12 school in Canada.
I have seen the school in person, and you can right off the bat tell that it is a prestigious school.

They have very high standard for teachers, also it is a boarding school so kids are far more independent and have good social manners. Being away from parents and family, the kids know how to take care of themselves.

If you're serious about the best education, maybe worth a day trip to St.Michaels?


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